Destiny's Child And Her Bridegroom
by Voltalia the Majestic One
Summary: Ever wonder what Rose Quartz's life was like long before she had Steven? Join us in this story as she is raised by priestesses and a former chancellor who try to teach her to use her gem to her fullest extent. Rating may change later on.
1. You're Here

**Author's Note: Hello there! I'm going to work on this now alongside _Magna Clades_ (which it shares a continuity with) and _Et Mundus Eos_. I hope you guys are hyped up for this one, because I sure am! :D (One more thing to note: my birthday is next Friday.)**

**Welp, please enjoy.**

**-Voltalia**

It was a dreary and foggy night at the Temple of the Venerable Goddess. Sitting on the very front step was a young rose-haired girl with a similarly-colored gem where her navel was. She appeared forlorn about something, but it was somewhat difficult to guess, judging from her expression alone. The sparkled iridescent fabric that wrapped around her skull was hanging down with her ringlets and catching the water vapors with sporadic ease. Her dazzled pink toga, which had a star-shaped hole to show off her gem, was slightly moist to the touch and was losing its starchy stiffness.

At that moment, a suave, slender light green-hued man walked up to the girl Rose Quartz and picked her up in a tight embrace, much to her delight.

This man was her surrogate father Nephrite. He had a narrow, oval face and an equally shaped jaw with a pointed chin and practically nonexistent cheekbones. His eyes were spaced not very far apart and tilted to resemble the eyes of the domestic feline. The nose was broad enough (at least through the bridge) to breathe through, but small enough to not stand out. The hair was styled rather meticulously with nothing in particular sticking out. He wasn't slender but he wasn't portly either. On his back, between his shoulder blades was a large, jagged gem that would summon a sword whenever he was provoked.

"Hello, my dear Rose." were his first words to the girl while he was hugging her. He noticed the melancholy expression on his foster daughter's face and set her down immediately. "What's the matter? Why are you up here by yourself?"

It took about a minute for Rose to work up the courage to speak. She choked out, "Priestess Ptilolite said that she and the others have picked a husband for me."

"Really?" Nephrite was slightly and oddly enthralled with this revelation. "Have they told you whom you've been arranged to marry?"

The prepubescent girl shook her head. "It scares me, Nephy." she answered, barely able to speak due to the fear of what was to come. "What if my husband's mean to me?"

"Oh, sweetheart." he said. "I'm certain the priestesses wouldn't have you be the bride of a Gem who'd hurt a child. You're lucky to have them as mothers; otherwise, only the Venerable Goddess knows what would be of you."

And he was right. Rose had no knowledge of her parents at all; her now-presumably dead real father had dropped her off at the Temple shortly after she had been born, and her actual mother had sacrificed her form just so she could have her. Nephrite had literally been there for her from the very beginning, beginning when he was asked by the priestesses themselves if he would establish a place in the young girl's life as her father. Naturally, being chancellor of the Chalcopyrite Queendom at the time, he couldn't dare to say no.

A lilac-hued priestess stepped out just as the young Gem was going to ask her father how he could be sure of what he had just said.

"Oh, there you are, Nephrite." this priestess Kunzite greeted warmly. "I'm glad you came back. What took you so long?"

"Oh, I just had to do some missionary work with the queendom of Spodumene, that's all." the light green Gem responded confidently. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I only wish, though, that Zoisite wasn't so much of a bother."

"Well, to be fair, he _is_ the new chancellor of our queendom." Kunzite said. "Oh, sure, he may be arrogant most of the time, but I think it's because of his neophyte status. Just give him time, sir."

"If you insist... by the way, Rose says she's worried about what sort of husband you picked for her."

"I can't blame her. Sometimes, the girls who are married off at her age wind up in the hands of dirty old men and lose their innocence way too soon. With that said, we picked for her a man we know will protect her at all costs and make sure that she'll still have her childhood to enjoy."

"Also, I think she may be concerned about whether I'll still be a part of her life even after she's married."

"Oh, Nephrite. Rose has nothing to worry about. After all, we chose you to look after her and we've seen over the years that she trusts you with all her being. So yes, you'll be in her life still."

Nephrite took a moment to let it sink in before Kunzite led him and the girl back inside.


	2. What Do We Do?

**Author's Note: If anybody asks, I had a fairly good 19th birthday this weekend. I've gotten a nice bathrobe so far as a birthday present, and there are more but they're still in my mom's car... which is stuck out in the bad weather. Ah, well. Enjoy this chapter, guys!**

**-Voltalia**

As soon as they had entered, Kunzite turned to Nephrite and gingerly placed her hand on his shoulder. The young girl took it as a cue that she should go off and leave them be.

"Why exactly are you keeping us in the dark about all this?" Nephrite couldn't help but ask. "If this has anything to do with me, I'd really like to know."

"It certainly does, sir." Kunzite asked with a soft smile. "But for the sake of confidentiality, we'll leave it at that."

"What about Rose, though?"

"As I said, she has nothing to worry about. Her husband won't be just a husband, but a guardian if you will."

Nephrite's reaction was an uneasy one, for he seemed ignorant of the direction this conversation was going towards. In a hushed (and rather harsh) tone that seemed to contradict his character as a whole, he responded, "I hope so, because I swear to you in the name of the goddess Marble that if I hear that you've married her off to that walking geode all Gems call Coquimbite or to Zoisite's goddessdamned father Tabby Quartz, I will make you wish you never saw the seasons change."

Kunzite was taken aback by this, but nevertheless continued with composure, "I appreciate your loyalty towards the girl, sir, but I doubt your death threat was necessary. I think it's time we moved on from that subject anyway."

* * *

The next morning, Nephrite caught sight of Rose dragging a bag of her possessions (including a _pupa _representing the queen Jubilee Diamond) behind her. He found himself worrying over her reasoning for this, and thus approached her as she was making her way to the temple entrance.

"Rose, where are you going?" he asked with a slight tremor to his voice. "You're not planning to run off, are you?"

The prepubescent girl turned her head to face her father. "Well, what else can I do if I don't know what's in store for me?" she asked him quietly.

She resumed on her way and was just about to open the door when she felt his arms wrap around her waist and lift her up.

"What are you doing?" she asked out of fright. "Put me down!"

"Rose..." Nephrite began. "You don't have to do this. Now I talked with the priestesses..."

"Y-yes, Nephy?"

"...and they just told me that...that..." He was fumbling with his words.

"That what?"

"...that I am the man they've arranged for you to marry..."

The girl's eyes widened with disbelief and her mouth gaped into a little "O." She couldn't decide whether to be overjoyed or just a bit freaked out; after a few minutes of awkward silence, she eventually went with the former and hugged him.

"Oh, Nephy!" she cried out. "I knew I wasn't going to lose you! I don't think I could bear to live without you!"

"I know it, love." the former chancellor said. "I probably should've gotten the hint when Priestess Kunzite said I'd still be a part of your life even after you were married."

Then there was another silence, this time a frightening and uncertain one. The enormity of the revelation had been the impetus and they both knew it. After a while (probably three or four minutes) of this, Rose broke the silence and asked, "So what can I think of you as now?"

"If there is one thing I know for a fact," he said. "It's that I'll still be your father."

* * *

Lilac-hued Kunzite kept fidgeting with her topknot bun over the fountain pool dedicated to the queendom's first ruler Chalcopyrite. It was very clear that she was starting to regret the decision she and the other priestesses had made to choose Nephrite as bridegroom. Her toga was starting to fall apart at the seams and the gem on her stomach had already began to crack. At this point, another priestess named Sulphur had come in to see her. Apparently, the others had grown worried over whether Kunzite was succumbing to mental (and physical) deterioration and thus sent the yellowish-green Gem to check things out.

"My Goddess, Kunzite, you look terrible." Sulphur was quick to observe Kunzite's moderately baggy eyes and gaunt figure.

"Thanks for observing, Sulphur, but my appearance should be the least of anybody's problems." Kunzite replied hoarsely. "Now go away."

Sulphur shrugged and inched herself towards the door. "If you say so..." she quickly grunted under her breath.

"Wait!" Kunzite called out to her.

Sulphur was nearly a foot away from the door when she turned around. "Yes, Kunzite?" she asked, still a bit hurt by Kunzite's irritability.

"Do you think it was a mistake to have Rose be the bride of her surrogate father?"

"Not at all. Why do you ask?"

"Well, lately I've been worrying that Nephrite will start taking advantage of Rose once they're married."

"Kunzite, you said so yourself that he wouldn't do something like that to her."

"I know, but-"

"I detest your use of the word 'but.' Now stop worrying and get on your duties. You'll thank me later."

Sulphur then grabbed Kunzite by the wrist and led her out of the room.


	3. Matrimony

**Author's Note: It's about time I got this up! Well, I've been awfully busy with school and life and stuff, but that hasn't stopped me from planning out chapter 4 of _Starchild_, chapter 2 of _Fight to Stay Alive_, and working on _Deity Heat_. Well, happy Easter!**

**-Voltalia**

The day had come for young Rose Quartz to tie the knot with her beloved father Nephrite. In a smaller, windowless part of the Temple, the seemingly-recovered lilac priestess Kunzite was fixing the pink Gem's hair into an oversized, frizzled, spiral-textured topknot bun (her hair was that curly) and had just crowned her with the chartreuse, diminutive rumored jewels of a goddess named Sphene Titanite. The stola was snow-white with some wine-colored stripes along the edges. Around the neck was the traditional _bulla_ embossed with some celebratory mottoes and symbols.

"I never thought we'd have to do this with you, dear _puella_." Kunzite said, misty-eyed. "And especially with your own father..." She sniffled a bit before composing herself again.

"Will the Queen be there?" the young girl asked anxiously. "I've always wanted to meet her."

The metallic blue priestess Shattuckite answered, "Yes. Yes, she will. And so will her companion Zoisite." (Queen Jubilee Diamond had a habit of calling her Chancellor/husband her companion.)

The young bride squealed with delight. She had always adored the Queen and her companion, but this would be the first time they'd meet for real. As energetic as she was, the thought of actually meeting the Queen Jubilee riled her up even more, so much so that the red priestess Ptilolite had to press her hands down on the young girl's shoulders and shift her body weight.

"Ye Gods!" Kunzite exclaimed. "Calm yourself, girl! We must get going!"

Kunzite hastily placed the _flamma_ upon the young girl's head and rushed her out the door to the atrium where everybody else was.

Rose was amazed to see just who was there. Besides the snow-white Gem-eyed Chancellor Zoisite and the yellow Queen Jubilee, present were the cerulean-hued pointy-eared Topaz who possessed a rather large pink crystallic cannon that resembled a rose, the dark violet-hued Kermesite (who happened to be an old friend of Nephrite's), steel-gray Petzite, and a whole other group of Gems that cannot be named right now. Officiating the ceremony was the pontifex herself, green-hued Sphalerite.

"Nephrite, Rose." the cold, rule-oriented Sphalerite imperatively said. "Come."

The former Chancellor and his surrogate daughter stepped forward to where the pontifex could get a good look at them.

"Now hold out your right hands." Sphalerite said once more.

The two soon-to-be-weds did as told. Sphalerite produced a small but sturdy gold-seamed rope and ordered the couple to face each other. She then bound their hands with the rope and began.

"Alright." she finally said again. "Now Rose, repeat after me: where you are Gaius, I am Gaia."

"Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia." the young girl said to her father with ease.

The pontifex nodded once before shouting, "It's done! Good luck to you and may you live out your lives with joy and loyalty."


End file.
